


Pride

by cat_whiskers



Series: XBC Femslash Week 2021 [1]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Contemplative Mòrag, F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gay Pride, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Modern AU, Mòrag-centric, Pride, Rainbows, The rest of the gang are also present but not mentioned as such, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29266737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cat_whiskers/pseuds/cat_whiskers
Summary: Xenoblade Femslash Week 2021 - prompt: Modern AUAs the gang attend Pride, Mòrag contemplates on love, found families, the past and her future.
Relationships: Kagutsuchi | Brighid/Meleph | Mòrag Ladair, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: XBC Femslash Week 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149290
Comments: 7
Kudos: 10





	Pride

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I promise I will update my other fic at some point, it is not forgotten, merely a case of 'University has started back, I'm a finalist and drowning in work, and any free time is spent chilling!'. The joys of a degree that has a very heavy essay-writing component, along with being involved in a society that also requires a lot of writing, means that sometimes writing for pleasure has to go on the backburner a bit during term time. 
> 
> Saying that, I really did want to get involved with femslash week. I've no clue if I will be able to keep up with every day, probably not tbh, but I saw the prompt and this sparked in my mind. Honestly, I'm not even sure Mòrag is that in character in this, it was pretty much written in one sitting with 0 plan hahaha.
> 
> I do hope you enjoy reading this, and I would love to hear any comments you may have!
> 
> Lastly, please follow @XBCFemslash on twitter to see all the other amazing stories and art that will be produced this week and show them your appreciation!

It hadn’t always been this easy, to be out and open and free with their love. Mòrag was well aware of this. And yet, there was an undeniable joy and power in being able to show the world that they existed, that they can celebrate who they are.

She laced her fingers with Brighid’s, glad for the familiarity in the crowd.

Around them were flags of all colours. Rainbows all around her, a spectrum of colour that sent a rush of warmth to her heart. These were her people. This was where she belonged.

Beside her, her beloved. Brighid. Sometimes, she would sit and try to formulate in her head exactly what it was that drew her in, yet no words seemed to be quite right. Terms like gorgeous or beautiful didn’t fit – they couldn’t encapsulate all that she was. A work of art, a jewel perhaps? And yet she was so much more, her external beauty a mere mask for the radiant character underneath. Sometimes, Mòrag wondered if she had experienced exceptional misfortune in a past life, to have somehow been granted the honour to walk alongside Brighid in this current one.

Brighid took her breath away every day.

Her friends too. They were all there too, sporting various colours of the rainbow, making up the eclectic collection that had become her group.

Squad?

Troupe?

_Family._

That they had accompanied them to this celebration of love stirred something deep in Mòrag’s heart. And she was glad, glad that they were all here with her and her beloved, on today of all days.

It weighed heavily in her pocket, and if she wasn’t so distracted by the lights and the colours and the joy all around her, her hands would be shaking.

Someone was playing a trumpet, somewhere, as the crowd marched onwards. Through the streets they went. She had always wanted to play the trumpet when she was younger – her patriotism for Mor Ardain ran deep in her blood. At one time, she had thought there was naught more worthy in life than to sacrifice oneself for the honour of their nation.

Of course, this was before her world was turned upside down because of who she loved.

Niall. And her uncle, Aegaeon. Before there was Brighid, and Rex and Nia and Zeke and even Tora, before Pyra and Mythra and Pandoria and Poppi and Dromach, before all of that, she had them. And she was deeply thankful. She had an uncle who took her in, helped her through education. Let her go to University. Kept her from succumbing to her darkest moments. A brother (and could she really call him anything but that, now? Sure, they may be cousins biologically, and yet her experiences had proven that family is much more than blood) who loved her not in spite of who she was, but because of it. Wholly and fully. And here he was, with her today, standing at her other side and smiling, because Mòrag could love whomever she wanted and FUCK anyone who said differently.

She didn’t like hearing him swear, but she would make allowances for that.

Perhaps a Pride parade was not the place she expected to have become so contemplative, yet here she stood, on the precipice between her past and future. The turning point, the moment of no return. She had loved a woman for years, been with a few before that, but it was in this moment that she felt truly seen. A celebration, of and with people like her.

It weighed even more heavily in her pocket.

When she had asked her friends to be present in the moment, perhaps it shouldn’t have been such a big surprise when she received an unanimously positive response. But it was something Nia said that stuck out most to her of all.

“Of course we’re coming, silly! We’re family, remember? And family support one another through thick and thin.”

Family. It felt weird on her tongue to say, but Nia’s statement rang true.

Speaking of family, the parade had reached its natural end point: a collection of tents, stages and individuals relishing in the space to freely be who they are and love who they love. It was a brief moment in time for many, a vibrant intermission in the sombre reality of living in a world that didn’t always accept your authentic self. Mòrag knew that experience well, but with Brighid at her side she was finally free from that personal hell.

It was in her hand now, clutched in her fist, and she knew the moment was coming.

She had met Brighid at college, an old friend of Pandoria’s (and with Zeke and Pandoria FINALLY realising they had been in love with each other for years, they were now even more inseparable than before – where one went, the other was never far behind). Mòrag had never really been the type to believe in shite like love at first sight, and she still didn’t, but the moment she met Brighid it was like the world clicked into place. It was like the Universe had destined for that moment of, “Oh, there you are, I’ve been looking for you forever.”

Naturally, Zeke and Pandoria had fancied themselves Cupid’s new angels from that moment onwards, and Mòrag couldn’t take that joy away from them, as irritating as they might be. The ever-outgoing socialites magnetised together this little hodgepodge crew, this team of oddballs and misfits who somehow, weren’t all misfits when they fit together so well. Sure, Mòrag was never too sure she believed in divine plans and all that, but maybe meeting Brighid and then meeting them felt too good to be chance sometimes.

And on the most important day of her life so far, here they all were.

Her love, her best friend, the woman to stand by her through thick and thin.

She was fire and ice, a picture of beauty. She was the calm in the eye of the storm, and yet she had a fire raging inside her that drove her to do what was right and damn the consequences. Ethereal, mystical, radiant – she wasn’t sure there would ever be a word to fit that quite worked.

Perhaps it was a bit corny to choose this place, of all places, to ask. Another woman may have chosen a restaurant, or a rooftop, or a famous monument. But the sun was shining, the joy overflowing, and their loved ones all sat around. This was the perfect time for them.

She coughed just loud enough to quieten the discussions, grab everyone’s attention, and Brighid was none the wiser. Only Niall had a knowing gleam in his eyes, and how could she do anything this big without telling him? As she asked for a brief moment of their time, she turned to her beloved, grinning at the little rainbow painted onto her left cheek. Oh, and now her knees were shaking a bit, as she brought Brighid to stand up with her, and though she was confused she smiled and went along with it.

“Once, I never envisioned being in this position. Life is scary and difficult at times – but weathering these times is a lot easier when you have someone you love by your side. You have brought more to my life than I could ever understand, you brought in colour when it was grey. We have formed a life together, we have made a family, and I cannot thank you enough, Brighid. You are the light of my life, and it would be the greatest honour of my life to remain by your side always, for what am I without you next to me? So, I ask you to stand by me in all I do, both now and forever, and to that end I have a question.”

Mòrag got down on one knee and opened her fist, revealing the small box. Brighid’s hands flew to her mouth, a few stray tears falling. Their family sat around them in silent anticipation, barely containing their joy. She opened the box.

“Brighid, my love, my life, I wish to love you every day of the rest of our lives. I wish to treasure you as you treasure me, I wish to bring joy into every aspect of you life, I wish to be known as yours as you would be mine. So, I must ask – will you marry me?”

A tensed gasp all round, and then…

“You fool, yes, of course I will marry you!”

Mòrag hadn’t realised she had tears running down her face, too caught up in the moment, as her fiancée knelt down and took her face in her hands. As their lips met, their family cheered, yet they hardly noticed, so wrapped up in one another. She slid the ring onto Brighid’s finger, who marvelled at it before kissing Mòrag once more.

Perhaps it was a bit cliché, but Mòrag didn’t care. Where else would be as fitting a place to start the rest of her life with the woman she loved as a celebration of love of all kinds? A moment where she could finally be true and free?

In the course of her life so far, she had had a complicated relationship with Pride. Not just the parade, but the emotion. Pride in her country was replaced by shame, disgust, horror – emotions she had never wanted to experience, yet had been driven to by circumstances out of her control. Pride in herself? At one point that too had been decimated, yet others had helped build her back up again, until she stood here today at a celebration of who she was and who she would go on to be. She was proud of her family, proud of the life she had created, proud of the love she shared with Brighid. She stood at a celebration of Pride, a moment for many people just like her giving the metaphorical middle finger to a society that tried to push them down, repress them, force shame down their throats and cage them from their true selves. But they had broken free, she had broken free, she was liberated from the chains of her past, and now-

For the first time in a long time, she finally felt proud of herself, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave kudos/comments down below!
> 
> Have a lovely day!!


End file.
